An album five years in the making, and Jimmy Tamborello's first for Sub Pop. Thick with his signature sampler finessing, warm electronic washes, and genius beat placement, "Dumb Luck" is an album lyrically as much about human distance as connection. Includes vocal contributions from Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), Edward Droste (Grizzly Bear), Valerie Trebeljahr and Markus Acher (Lali Puna), Mia Doi Todd, Grant Olsen and Sonya Westcott (Arthur & Yu), Andrew Broder (Fog), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), and Christopher and Jennifer Gunst (Mystic Chords Of Memory).
Dntel comforts himself by combining melancholy melodies with an assortment of electronic production styles, as well as enlisting friends to add vocals and guitar on some tracks. The resultsrangefromTimbaland inspired minimal techno to pop songs buried in static, cut-up acoustic guitars, sampled symphonies struggling to find somewhere to settle, found sound and blissed-out drones. This album includes vocal contributions from Chris Gunst (Beachwood Sparks, ex-Strictly Ballroom), Mia Doi Todd (solo artist, City Zen records), Meredith Figurine (Figurine), Rachel Haden (solo artist, ex-That Dog), and Benjamin Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie), plus guitar by Paul Larson (Athalia, ex-Strictly Ballroom) and Brian McMahan (The For Carnation, ex-Slint).
